There's a chuckle on every page in this collection of brief, humorous anecdotes that take us on a merry romp through growing up during the 1930s and 1940s, the transitions from grade school to high school to college to the military, work, and finally, to marriage, kids and grandkids. On the way we also laugh about pets, secretaries, bugs in the BOQ, and many more stories told with wit and warmth.

When the flaming-orange tom was brought to the local animal shelter, he was messy. And he stank. That darn cat never took his eyes off me. They were not quite green and not quite yellow; they were round, and alert, and reflected light like precious stones set in orange gold. ‘Don’t even think about it,’ I told him. I already had two cats.

In TopKnotch, three Shih Tzu girls—Ginger, Hapi, and Missy, scheme to extricate their late 20’s-something owner, Robin, from a series of foibles. Robin is an engineer who works for her uber-successful, but domineering dad, Fritz. She’s engaged to marry Sean, who works as the intellectual property attorney for their venture capital firm, Rosencratz & Dessein.